Pages

Notes

People

John Bastwick (1595-1654) was a Puritan pamphleteer who was sentenced with William Prynne in 1637 in the Star Chamber to life imprisonment, a £5,000 fine and to lose his ear after being pilloried as a result of his published works Apologeticus and The Litany of John Bastwick, which challenged the authority of ministers and bishops. Frances Condick asserts that Bastwick's path to the pillory was strewn with flowers.

William Prynne (1600-1669) was a lawyer and pamphleteer who was sentenced with John Bastwick in 1637 to life imprisonment, a £5,000 fine and to lose his ear after being pilloried as a result of his published works. Both of his ears were removed and his face branded with 'S.L' for 'Seditious Libeller'. William Lamont observs that the event made an impact upon public opinion and that Prynne's exile to the Channel Islands became a triumphant progress.

Robert Pye was sentenced to stand in the pillory and have his ears cut off in 1602, according to one source for plotting to kill another lawyer.

Titus Oates (1649-1705) was the instigator of the Popish Plot, which falsely alleged a catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles the Second and also (potentially) his brother James, Duke of York. Oates's fictional allegations led to the trials, and in some cases executions, of many innocent catholics between 1678 and 1684, when Oates was arrested. Part of his sentence for perjury was to stand five times a year in the pillory at Westminster.

William Fuller (1670-1733) was an informant and spy with some links to James the Second's exiled court. He was sentenced to stand twice in the pillory for alleging a Jacobite plot of which he could provide no evidence.

John Selden (1584-1654) was a lawyer and scholar who was imprisoned for opposing the policies of King Charles the First. He fought extensively against what he saw as the illegal actions of the King, especially his use of discretionary imprisonment and martial law.

Henry Sacheverell (1674-1724) was a high church clergyman made famous by his inflammatory style of preaching and uncompromising attitude towards dissenters. Defoe's The Shortest Way with the Dissenterswas based on the style of sermon preached by the likes of Sacheverell, especially his sermon of May 1702, printed as The Political Union. In 1710 Sacheverell was prevented from preaching for three years when the Whig government tried him with four articles relating to his controversial preachings.

Robert Mander (Wise Vice-Chancellor o'th' Press) was the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University between 1700 and 1702. P.N.Furbank and W.R.Owens note that he gave his imprimatur for publication of Sacheverell's May 1702 sermon The Political Union, despite there being no legal requirement for him to do so.

Baron de Pointis (1645-1707) was a French naval commander best known for his successful attack of Cartegena in 1667. Pointis managed to maintain a month long head start on the English fleet sent to stop him and on four occasions out manoeuvred the English ships to safely return to Brest with his loot. The episode was damaging to English naval prestige and positively effected Louise XIV's treasury and negotiations at Ryswick.

The Second Duke of Ormond (1665-1745) commanded a land force to take Cadiz in April 1702. The main objective of the attack failed due to Ormond's men instead looting the local village Puerto Santa Maria, and raping the women there, including nuns. He also assisted an attack at Vigo in 1702, where English forces destroyed a French escort to a Spanish treasure fleet. Much of the treasure was sunk or stolen.

Henry Belasyse (1648-1717) was the Duke of Ormond's Lieutenant-General during an attack at Cadiz. He was tried in February 1703 and held responsible for the sacking of Puerto Santa Maria. As a result of being found guilty he was dishonourably discharged from the army.

John Asgill (1659-1738) started his career in law and banking but was made famous in 1700 with the publication of his book An Argument proving, that...Man may be Translated. The book argues that Christ 'had discharged christians from death' therefore 'those who believe in translation will not die but go directly to heaven.' Daniel Defoe wrote against the thesis in his 1704 pamphlet An enquiry into the Case of Mr Asgill'[s] General Translation.

Salathiel Lovell (1631-1713) was Recorder of London between June 1692 and 1708 when he resigned his recordership. He presided over Daniel Defoe's trail for seditious libel. Defoe had written unflatteringly about Lovell's character as a judge in his 1702 pamphlet The Reformation of Manners.

Captain James Whitney was a notorious highwayman with Jacobite sympathies who was sentenced to death by Salathiel Lovell in 1693. Lovell, according to P.N.Furbank and W.R.Owens, warned Whitney that 'the blood of the horses he had slain... would rise up in judgement against him.'

William Sherlock (1639-1707) was a clergyman who on the 15th June 1691 was named Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. There was some earlier controversy over his oaths to King William the Third and his wife Queen Mary, as at first he refused to take them. However, after convincing others to abstain from taking the oath of allegiance and having some of his arguments against swearing the oath circulated, he changed his position and swore to the new King and Queen in August 1690. Some credit Sherlock's radical change of heart to the influence of his wife.